Market traded sideways in the initial hours of the session but later traded weak to close 82 points negative. Market will likely remain similar to outgoing week until any further developments.

On the economic front, Pakistan plans to borrow more than $4 billion from the Saudi-backed Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as part of its attempts to restore dangerously low stocks of foreign currency. Moreover, foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $19 million to $10.369 billion during the week. EFERT (-1.45 percent) reported 1H2018 consolidated EPS at Rs5.35, up 74 percent YoY with interim dividend of Rs4/share.

Mixed sentiments were seen in the Cements where LUCK (+1.40 percent) and PIOC (+0.07 percent) closed positive whereas DGKC (-1.90 percent) and FCCL (-2.04 percent) closed in the red. Moreover, mixed sentiments were also seen in the Financials where HBL (-0.40 percent) and MCB (-0.43 percent) closed in the red, while on the flip side UBL (+1.33 percent) and HMB (+0.24 percent) closed positive.